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Friday, June 28, 2013

BOOK BLITZ & GIVEAWAY: Ruby's Fire by Catherine Stine

Book Info

Ruby's Fire

by Catherine Stine

Publication Date: June 26th, 2013

If everything about you changes, what remains?Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the Fireseed desert cult, escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn. Arriving at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running. Or can she? The Greening is not what it seems. Students are rampaging out of control and as she cares for the secret Fireseed crop, she experiences frightening physical changes. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk. She’s long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. And how is she to stop her dependence on Oblivion to find a real beauty within, using her talent as a maker of salves, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?When George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea offers a huge cash prize for the winner of a student contest, Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult. But when Stiles comes to reclaim her, and Thorn sickens after creating the most astonishing contest project of all, the world Ruby knows is changed forever. This romantic fantasy set in 2099 on earth has a crafty heroine in Ruby, and a swoonworthy cast, which will surely appeal to the YA and new adult audience.

Excerpt

I
crawl into bed exhausted in a good way. I’ve eaten, I’ve gotten exercise, and
I’ve managed to fend off Blane. I’ve checked on Thorn and Radius seems to be
leaving him alone. Bea hasn’t said anything truly nasty to me today, though
she’s rolled toward the wall again without a word. Now she’s breathing steadily
with a soft snore.

Progress, I may not even need Oblivion
tonight.

But as I lay there, staring out at the
orange-streaked sky and the distant, blinking stars, my mind sinks to a
dreadful reverie. I’m standing in front of the garden shelf where the red
leaves are trapped under those wide stones. The Fireseed seems to be emitting a
high-pitched wail. Blane is there too and he’s pressing his face into mine, his
lips biting at my own lips. His meaty arms trap me. He shoves me down on top of
Fireseed stalks that crack and split, sending out more high-pitched whees. As Blane’s weight pushes hard
against my chest, his face becomes Stiles’—the flared nostrils, bloodshot eyes
and accusing stare. “You are mine,” Stiles says. “How dare you…”

I bolt upright, sending such a flurry of
fearful energy into the air that Bea chokes in her sleep. Coughing, she turns
my way and returns to her steady breathing.

Her eyes could snap open at any second.
She could steal my bag of Oblivion or knock it from my hands, scattering the
powder over the floor. It would be lost forever. I hold my breath as I pad
across the room, reach for the velvety sack in my cloak and feel the reassuring
give of the powder. It’s diminishing with every dose, and I won’t be able to
make more here. I need to ration it carefully. My heart hammering, I flutter into
the bathroom, inch open the drawstring and shake a line onto my wrist. I inhale
greedily, desperately.

Stumbling back to bed, there’s only
enough time to thrust the precious bag inside my pillowcase before sweat erupts
on my upper lip and my eyes roll up.